Comedy: Some young teens sneak out from their sleepover to compete in a scavenger hunt where the winners get their school's coveted lunch spot.

PLOT:

Life is changing drastically for 14-year-old Julie (ALEXA VEGA). Not only is her former best friend, Staci (SARA PAXTON), now a snob who wants nothing to do with her, but with her current one, Hannah (MIKA BOOREM), moving to another city, Julie will be entering high school without a close ally. And to make matters worse, hunky high school student Steve (SEAN FARIS) doesn't seem to know she exists unlike dorky skateboarder Russell (EVAN PETERS) and his friends Lance (HUNTER PARRISH) and Miles (SHANE HUNTER).

Nevertheless, she's looking forward to a sleepover with Hannah and friends Farrah (SCOUT TAYLOR-COMPTON) and Yancy (KALLIE FLYNN CHILDRESS) at her place where the rules are no guys, breaking things or leaving the house. Yet, when Staci, Liz (BRIE LARSON) and their friends challenge Julie and her friends to a scavenger hunt where the winners get the coveted lunchtime spot at their school, the girls realize they have to sneak out.

Paying off her older brother Ren (SAM HUNTINGTON) to keep their parents, Gabby (JANE LYNCH) and Jay (JEFF GARLIN), from discovering their absence, Julie and her friends head out. As Steve tries to figure out who Julie is after catching a brief glimpse of her, she and her friends attempt to beat Staci and the others at the scavenger hunt, all while avoiding local security guard Sherman (STEVE CARELL) and various close calls of her parents realizing they're out of the house.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?

"Tween" and younger girls might want to, but probably few others.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG

For thematic elements involving teen dating, some sensuality and language.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:

ALEXA VEGA plays a 14-year-old who's upset that her best friend is moving to another city, leaving her without an ally to enter high school. Despite promising to follow her mom's rules about her sleepover, she leads her friends into the scavenger hunt competition, all while hoping that Steve might recognize her.

MIKA BOOREM plays her best friend who's moving away but wants Julie to be happy in her life. She sneaks out with her, as do other friends played by SCOUT TAYLOR-COMPTON and KALLIE FLYNN CHILDRESS (with the latter's character not being happy about being overweight and receiving no attention from boys).

SARA PAXTON plays her former best friend from childhood who's now a snob and must deal with her boyfriend making unwelcome advances toward her. She competes with Julie and her friends over the lunch spot.

JANE LYNCH plays Julie's mom who spends the evening clubbing with her friends, but is suspicious that Julie is up to something.

JEFF GARLIN plays her oblivious husband who's so busy trying to do some plumbing work that he doesn't realize Julie isn't home.

SAM HUNTINGTON plays Julie's older and disillusioned brother who's dropped out of college but agrees to cover for her skipping out of the house.

SEAN FARIS plays the hunky high school student who's the object of Julie's dreams.

EVAN PETERS plays a dorky skateboarder who's fond of Julie.

STEVE CARELL plays the bumbling neighborhood security guard who tries to keep the kids in line.

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a brief summary of the content found in this PG-rated comedy. Profanity consists of several possible slang terms for sex, while various colorful phrases are uttered. Other sexually related dialogue is present, and a guy apparently tries to get his girlfriend to have sex with him (she won't).

A high school boy is nude in front of a 14-year-old girl hiding in his shower (she sees everything, we don't), a father's butt crack is seen, some teen making out occurs and several views of varying styles of teens' undergarments are seen.

All sorts of imitative behavior is present, some of it including some of the various bad attitudes that are on display. Some slapstick style material occurs, while some brief fighting (slapping, pushing and tussling) is present, as is some very brief crude humor. Meanwhile, some people drink and part of a contest is for the young teen girls to get a guy to buy them a drink in a bar.

If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.

Part of the scavenger hunt is to get a guy at a club to buy the participants a drink (remember that these are middle-school girls). That's later entered into an online dating web site as part of a requirement.

Ren (who's in a perpetual daze) states that his beer cap collection is gone now that his mom has redone his room.

People have drinks in a club where we see Staci with one in front of her, but we don't see her drink from it.

A school teacher doesn't realize that his blind internet date is really Julie (she's wearing sunglasses and her mother's dress) and he asks if she'd like a drink. Hannah then sends Julie a text message saying "Sex on the beach," prompting Julie to ask if she's crazy. Hannah then informs Julie (via another text message) that it's a drink. She then orders one and the teacher says he'll have one as well (he takes a sip of his, but the bartender doesn't give one to Julie as she has no I.D. and the teacher eventually realizes it's her).

Sherman is suspicious about Julie's Coke and thus takes a test taste. When he's satisfied, he spits it back into the can and then hands it back to her (nothing bloody or gory, but it falls into the "ewww" status).

A mean girl jokingly tells Yancy that she can sue her diet company for non-performance.

We hear that Staci was Julie's best friend, but is now popular and thus snobbish toward her.

Staci's boyfriend says that they're skipping the dance and then parks the car. He then tries to kiss her, but she tells him to stop. He then says, "Come on" and reminds her that she promised, "We would hook up" when they graduated. He tries to kiss her again, she tells him to get off her and he then tells her to get out of the car. She does and he drives away.

Julie breaks her mom's rules and sneaks out of the house with her friends.

Julie bribes Ren to cover for her and the other girls when they sneak out of the house at night.

Yancy bends her dad's rules and takes out his electric car for the scavenger hunt.

Julie and her friends lock Sherman in a store display window.

Julie does some smart aleck talking back to her mom at times.

Julie breaks into Steve's house to get a pair of his boxers as part of the scavenger hunt.

Julie's competitors call the local security patrol about Julie being in Steve's place (to prevent her from winning and get her in trouble).

After being detained by Sherman, Julie flees the scene.

After a question is made about Staci "hooking up" with her former boyfriend, he mockingly states that she doesn't "hook up" and never will.

We learn that Staci's former boyfriend was dating another girl at the same time as her.

Farrah informs Yancy that she was a replacement slumber partygoer for Julie's party when Staci dropped out (but then apologizes for saying that).

Julie's mom nearly catches her and her friends at a dance club. Later, and after arriving back home, Julie barely makes it into her room when her father arrives at her door to check on her.

Julie tries to hide from Steve and his friend after breaking into Steve's house (played for comedy/adventure).

Julie races home to get there before her mom does. She then tries to cross from the backyard fort to her bedroom window via a rope, but the fort becomes unstable (with her friends on it) and begins to lean and then fall toward the house (it ends up perched against the house with no one being hurt).

We hear the term "butt crack alert" and then see a shot of Jay bent over at the fridge, with his pants riding down just enough that we see the top of his butt crack.

Kids may want to have their own version of an adventurous scavenger hunt competition.

On the last day of school, middle-schoolers run into the hallways and throw papers everywhere and one sprays silly-string on a school teacher.

Steve jumps his skateboard over a fountain.

The girls retrieve a bra from the freezer as part of their slumber party fun (but we never see what's done with it).

Sherman is suspicious about Julie's Coke and thus takes a test taste. When he's satisfied, he spits it back into the can and then hands it back to her.

Hannah wears a midriff-revealing top.

Part of the scavenger hunt is to get a guy at a club to buy the participants a drink (remember that these are middle-school girls). That's later entered into an online dating web site as part of a requirement for Julie's blind date.

Julie breaks her mom's rules and sneaks out of the house with her friends.

Julie bribes Ren to cover for her and the other girls when they sneak out of the house at night.

Staci crawls out Julie's second story window, goes across part of the roof and then walks across a trellis and climbs down to the ground. Julie and her three friends then do the same, but Julie's butt ends up breaking through the trellis and she then finds herself stuck, hanging upside down from it.

Yancy bends her dad's rules and takes out his electric car for the scavenger hunt.

Ren, Russell and his skateboarding buddies don wigs and feminine attire, and dance around a room to fool Julie's dad to think they are the girls.

Staci and Liz re-dress mannequins in a store display window as part of the scavenger hunt contest. Julie and her friends then do the same, but must do so with male mannequins. Sherman nearly catches them several times, but they freeze in mid-action and act like mannequins.

Ren wolfs down a lot of pizza as fast as he can (as does the family dog). He then belches several times and the dog farts.

Julie and her friends sneak into a club in large music equipment cases.

Julie jumps over a large dog while riding a skateboard (she goes over the dog while the board goes between its legs).

Julie does some smart aleck talking back to her mom at times.

Some kids may want to imitate when Ren has the family dog in high heels (to make it sound like the girls are still in the room).

Russell rolls by Sherman's car on his back and on his skateboard, apparently letting the air out of the tires.

Julie shows Hannah the large panties her mother has bought her (to prove how out of touch her mom is).

We hear the term "butt crack alert" and then see a shot of Jay bent over at the fridge, with his pants riding down just enough that we see the top of his butt crack.

We see a photo of a shirtless guy on a website that the girls look at.

Staci's boyfriend says that they're skipping the dance and then parks the car. He then tries to kiss her, but she tells him to stop. He then says, "Come on" and reminds her that she promised, "We would hook up" when they graduated. He tries to kiss her again, she tells him to get off her and he then tells her to get out of the car. She does and he drives away.

We see a webcam broadcast of Staci's friends saying that they just gave themselves thongs with their names on them (and we then see them holding them up).

Russell and his friends crash Julie's room and he's happy when he holds up her bra.

A school teacher doesn't realize that his blind internet date is really Julie (she's wearing sunglasses and her mother's dress) and he asks if she'd like a drink. Hannah then sends Julie a text message saying "Sex on the beach," prompting Julie to ask if she's crazy. Hannah then informs Julie (via another text message) that it's a drink.

When a deejay at a dance club sees Gabby dancing on a platform, he says (over the P.A.) that she's an older "baby" who's "shaking her booty."

We see Julie dressed in her mom's modified dress that is cut low in the front.

Part of the scavenger hunt involves the two teams getting a pair of Steve's boxers. Staci manages to grab a pair from his duffel bag in his car, but Julie must go into his house to get hers. Once in, Julie tries to hide from Steve and his friend and ends up in the shower. After he turns on the water (partially soaking her), he starts to undress. We see her point of view as he removes his pants and shirt, leaving him in only his boxers. He then removes his boxers (our shot doesn't show that, but she sees it in full). He's distracted and leaves the room, however, allowing her to grab the boxers and escape.

A teen couple is seen making out while clothed and standing at a school dance.

After a question is made about Staci "hooking up" with her former boyfriend, he mockingly states that she doesn't "hook up" and never will (with the floating definition of "hook up" in the teen world, this could mean anything from getting together to sex).

We hear that Staci was Julie's best friend, but is now popular and thus snobbish toward her.

We hear that Ren has dropped out of college.

Staci's boyfriend says that they're skipping the dance and then parks the car. He then tries to kiss her, but she tells him to stop. He then says, "Come on" and reminds her that she promised, "We would hook up" when they graduated. He tries to kiss her again, she tells him to get off her and he then tells her to get out of the car. She does and he drives away.

Part of the scavenger hunt is to get a guy at a club to buy the participants a drink (remember that these are middle-school girls). That's later entered into an online dating web site as part of a requirement for Julie's blind date.

Julie does some smart aleck talking back to her mom at times.

Julie finally tells her mom part of the truth (that she did leave the house).

Yancy's car rolls down the road and bumps into Sherman's patrol car (deploying the air bag into his face).

Sherman accidentally drives his car into some trash cans and the air bag deploys into his face.

Staci slaps her former boyfriend. She and his other girlfriend proceed to shove and then grab each other by the hair, spinning around until Staci falls to the floor. The other girlfriend then slaps the boyfriend.

Sherman flips over the handlebars of his bike when he runs into a crown on the road (he hits the street hard).